Memorial held in honor of two students

Two fraternities are holding a memorial service today at 6 p.m. in Wright Auditorium in honor of their two brothers who recently passed away.

The memorial will honor James Thompson from Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Nick Dragicevich from Phi Kappa Tau.

Kelly Thompson, James' sister, said she and her family are coping with the loss day by day.

"We just know he's in a better place ... we'll always have memories of him," said Thompson.

Parker Rowe, who was a close friend of James's said his death was a shock to many of the fraternity brothers, and it really hit them hard at the funeral. He said he feels he is affected by James's death more than other people because he was James's roommate, pledge brother and best friend.

"He had a very outstanding personality. He would do anything for anybody," said Rowe.

Parker said James enjoyed fishing, intramural sports, and video games.

James was a sophomore biology major and was very involved in the fraternity.

When the fraternity volunteered with children at Pitt County Memorial Hospital, James "was always the first to sign up," said Jake Lane, junior marketing major and president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

Ally Shope, senior marketing major, who was a friend of Nick Dragicevich from Phi Kappa Tau, said while it's a bad situation, she is trying to remember the good times she had with Nick.

"It's kind of shocking - you hear about those things happening, but you don't expect it to be one of your friends," said Shope.

Shope said Nick was one of the friendliest people she knew, and she hopes there is a good turnout at the memorial service.

Nick would have been graduating this May with a construction management degree and gone on to start his new job in Virginia Beach.

"Any sort of unexpected death like that is traumatic," said Joe Dragicevich, Nick's father.

"It doesn't make a lot of sense how something like this could happen."

Both of Nick's parents said they hope some good can come of the loss by teaching a lesson to other college students.

This writer can be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com